Women And Religion Essays

Gender roles in religion have always been a controversial topic. All of the major world religions belittle women to some degree. It is not a secret that women have historically gotten the short end of the stick, so to speak, when it comes to how they are treated and viewed in religion. After researching this topic, I can safely say that the women do all the work and the men take all the credit. Women are treated less than equal to men in most religious settings. Below I will touch upon women’s roles in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, the Rastafari Movement, Mormonism and Islam and how they have in fact, gotten the “short end of the stick” and how women have been…show more content…

In Christianity, both men and women have the same right to be considered as saints and there are many women saints, however, according to the New Testament Christ appointed only male apostles. It has been maintained that Christian ministers should be men because they need to represent Jesus Christ who was the son of God. Many people have argued that God has no gender and that women should be able to represent God equally. Few women are recognized in the Christian world. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene are among the most famous women in Christianity. Mary Magdalene is a woman who is commonly known as gallivant and described as promiscuous. Although Mary Magdalene has always been portrayed this way, recent studies have shown that to the contrary, Mary Magdalene was a leader in the Christian movement that helped put women in leadership roles. Due to the efforts of Mary Magdalene, women continued to thrive in the leadership positions within the Christian faith. Another notable woman in Christianity was Thecla. Thecla had short hair and wore men’s clothing. She was constantly threatened with rape and prostitution throughout her duties as a missionary apostle. She maintained her faith in her religion and celibacy. Thecla’s story has been well documented. Thecla was a dignified woman who left her family behind to follow her fiancé. She then set out to teach the gospel. Thecla is

...INTRODUCTION * R. Radford Reuther “ecofeminism: symbolic and social connections fo the oppression of women and the domination of nature” * Ecofeminism: combines “deep” ecology and feminism * Deep ecology: combines biology with symbolic, psychological, and ethical patterns, to seek a life affirming culture * Ecofeminism points out the connection between domination of nature and women * Reshape/revise religious beliefs and practices * Broad critique of western culture from ecofeminism perspective * Positive constructions of ecofeminism to follow * Why have women been associated with nature and men with culture? * Is the separation of nature and culture ultimately true? ANCIENT CULTURES * Early role of women associated with childbearing, food, production, clothing, etc. * Males associated with hunting large animals, war, clearing fields, leisure (energy, prestigious) * Eventually, males began to define cultural roles * Male coercion and plow agriculture * Males take over agriculture, decent of land * Conquest of tribes: women for labor and sexual service * Patriarchal law: women, slaves, animals, land * Babylonian Creation Myth: Marduk vs. Tiamat * Marduk is a warrior , taimat is a female, marduk defeats tiamat and kills her, her body becomes the ground. This...